Friedrich Merz proposes 'radical' spending package for Germany

Germany's chancellor designate Friedrich Merz wants to scrap restraints on borrowing and allow for much higher defence spending

Friedrich Merz speaks during debates at the Bundestag over a bill to amend Germany's Basic Law
(Image credit: Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting, Friedrich Merz, is under fire from opposition politicians over his “radical proposals” to relax the so-called debt brake to boost the economy and allow for higher defence spending, says Kate Connolly in The Guardian. The CDU/CSU leader’s proposals, agreed with his potential coalition partners, the Social Democrats, have variously been described as a “bazooka” and an “extremely risky bet”. Merz says they are vital “in light of the threats to our freedom and peace”.

Merz, who is in coalition talks to form a new government, which are expected to run until 24 March, wants to get his plans through the current parliament, where the conservatives and SPD have the necessary two-thirds majority together with the Greens. The far-right AfD, which will have 152 seats in the new parliament, is opposed and has already said it will challenge the decision in court. “A number of other parties have political incentives to push the vote to the brink,” says Deutsche Bank Research. It’s “far from a done deal”.

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Emily Hohler
Politics editor

Emily has worked as a journalist for more than thirty years and was formerly Assistant Editor of MoneyWeek, which she helped launch in 2000. Prior to this, she was Deputy Features Editor of The Times and a Commissioning Editor for The Independent on Sunday and The Daily Telegraph. She has written for most of the national newspapers including The Times, the Daily and Sunday Telegraph, The Evening Standard and The Daily Mail, She interviewed celebrities weekly for The Sunday Telegraph and wrote a regular column for The Evening Standard. As Political Editor of MoneyWeek, Emily has covered subjects from Brexit to the Gaza war.

Aside from her writing, Emily trained as Nutritional Therapist following her son's diagnosis with Type 1 diabetes in 2011 and now works as a practitioner for Nature Doc, offering one-to-one consultations and running workshops in Oxfordshire.